Media Release | Pauline Hanson suspended from Twitter
Pauline Hanson suspended from Twitter
22/08/2019
Pauline Hanson has been suspended from Twitter over her unique suggestion to use electric cattle prods to disperse Brisbane’s disruptive criminal protestors, even though other users who seem to be wishing her ill-will are continuing to tweet.
The One Nation senator has appealed the suspension, describing it as part of the ongoing efforts of the left to stop freedom of speech and silence anyone with whom they don’t agree.
“I don’t see how my tweet was somehow offensive and potentially harmful, if those tweets wishing I’d fall of Uluru are not,” Senator Hanson said.
“This is just a concerted effort by the left to once again push for the censorship of conservative politicians and commentators, but I won’t be silenced and I will keep working for the good of all Australians.”
Senator Hanson has been the subject of abusive tweets that seem to support her death or serious injury:
One user, @wito_eminem, tweeted: “Praying for Pauline to fall off Uluru”.
Another, @RunAtMeBro, tweeted: “I wouldn’t mind seeing Pauline slip & break her neck climbing Uluru”. To that, user @foxydubz1 replied: “100%”.
And still another, @drunkyayo, had suggested: “why is pauline hanson trending… bitch, I’ll kill u”
The tweets, which have not (yet) seen their users banned, are emerging as Senator Hanson meets with traditional owners at Uluru, to discuss options to prevent the closure of the iconic tourist attraction and save valuable jobs and income for many Aboriginal workers.
Twitter ruled that her cattle prod tweet from Sunday was in breach of a rule that says users “may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.”
Senator Hanson said her account suspension highlighted the double standards and weaknesses in Twitter’s administration.
“The left has bullied Twitter into suspending my account, yet others who are quite vicious are free to keep going on with their ill-informed rubbish,” she said.
Senator Hanson tweeted a link to a video on the weekend, where she suggested cattle prods might be useful for police to disperse protestors who are regularly blocking traffic and disrupting hardworking everyday Australians going about their lives.
“When the farmers have trouble getting the cattle up off the floor of the trucks, or in the cattle yards, they just touch them with this and they’ll soon move; it doesn’t matter how big the beast are, they will move with this,” Senator Hanson says in the video, while holding the cattle prod.
“Well, recently, we’ve had all the protestors in Brisbane, lying on the streets, gluing themselves. And what about the protestors now? They want to go to the airports, stop the traffic at the airports.
“How about you? How about if you need to get through the traffic, maybe take a loved one to hospital, or desperately need to get to your job, or something’s happening, and the protestors are there? You know what I reckon the solution. Let’s use one of these on them. I think they’ll soon move.
“Let’s give the idea to Annastacia Palaszczuk; see if she’s actually got the guts to give it to the police to actually start using these. I would.”
In her Twitter suspension appeal, Senator Hanson said tasers and cattle prods were low voltage and non-lethal and only suggested their use on people who block traffic or airports.